Methods and systems for assigning provisioning servers in a software provisioning environment

ABSTRACT

A software provisioning environment can include several provisioning servers for providing software provisioning to one or more target machines. To assign provisioning servers to the target machines, a provisioning server can be configured to assign the provisioning servers utilizing the provisioning objects. The provisioning server can be configured to associate selected provisioning objects with respective provisioning servers. By associating a provisioning object with a respective provisioning server, the respective provisioning server will operate as the provisioning server for any provisioning processes performed on target machines utilizing the selected provisioning object. The provisioning server can be configured to associate the provisioning objects with the provisioning servers based on any number of factors such as location of the provisioning servers, specifications of the provisioning servers, load on a provisioning server, and performance of a provisioning server.

FIELD

This invention relates generally to software provisioning.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Software provisioning is the process of selecting a target machine, such as a server, loading the appropriate software (operating system, device drivers, middleware, and applications), and customizing and configuring the system and the software to make it ready for operation. Software provisioning can entail a variety of tasks, such as creating or changing a boot image, specifying parameters, e.g. IP address, IP gateway, to find associated network and storage resources, and then starting the machine and its newly-loaded software. Typically, a system administrator will perform these tasks using various tools because of the complexity of these tasks. Unfortunately, there is a lack of provisioning control tools that can adequately integrate and automate these tasks.

Often, large entities, such as corporations, business, and universities, maintain large networks that include numerous systems spread over a wide geographic area. In order to provision software to the dispersed systems, the entities will maintain multiple installer servers located at different locations to support software provisioning. As such, target machines must be assigned to particular install servers in order to perform software provisioning. Typically, this involves an administrator physically configuring each individual target machine to cooperate with the appropriate install server. This can be time consuming especially when the install servers are located in different geographic locations. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a provisioning environment in which provisioning servers can be dynamically and automatically assigned in a software provisioning environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various features of the embodiments can be more fully appreciated, as the same become better understood with reference to the following detailed description of the embodiments when considered in connection with the accompanying figures, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an overall provisioning environment in which various embodiments of the present teachings can be practiced;

FIG. 2 illustrates the overall provisioning environment in which provisioning servers can be assigned, according to various embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary hardware configuration for a provisioning server, according to various embodiments; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart for assigning provisioning servers, according to various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of the present invention are described by referring mainly to exemplary embodiments thereof. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that the same principles are equally applicable to, and can be implemented in, all types of information and systems, and that any such variations do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the present invention. Moreover, in the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying figures, which illustrate specific embodiments. Electrical, mechanical, logical and structural changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Embodiments of the present teachings relate to systems and methods for assigning provisioning servers in a software provisioning environment. More particularly, provisioning servers can be assigned to target machines by utilizing provisioning objects in the provisioning servers.

In embodiments, a software provisioning environment can include several provisioning servers for providing software provisioning to one or more target machines. To assign provisioning servers to the target machines, a provisioning server can be configured to assign the provisioning servers utilizing the provisioning objects. The provisioning objects can include such data as profiles or specific target machine information.

In embodiments, the provisioning server can be configured to associate selected provisioning objects with respective provisioning servers. By associating a provisioning object with a respective provisioning server, the respective provisioning server will operate as the provisioning server for any provisioning processes performed on target machines utilizing the selected provisioning object. The provisioning server can be configured to include, in the selected provisioning object, a reference to the respective provisioning server. Once provisioning processes are performed on any target machines utilizing the selected provisioning object, the target machines can automatically identify the respective provisioning server with which to communicate.

In embodiments, the provisioning server can be configured to associate the provisioning objects with the provisioning servers based on any number of factors such as location of the provisioning servers, specifications of the provisioning servers, load on a provisioning server, performance of a provisioning server, and the like.

In embodiments, one of the several provisioning servers can be configured to be a central provisioning server. The central provisioning server can be configured to maintain a complete inventory of the provisioning objects for the software provisioning environment. The central provisioning server can be configured to select and provide the provisioning objects to the other provisioning servers in the environment. Additionally, the central provisioning server can be configured to associate selected provisioning objects with the respective other provisioning servers. As such, the other provisioning servers with be provided with the assignments when the provisioning objects are provided by the central provisioning server.

By assigning provisioning server through the objects, provisioning processes can be performed without locating, assigning, and selecting provisioning servers, individually, at each target machine. This improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the software provisioning environment especially when the provisioning server may be geographically dispersed. Additionally, by assigning provisioning server through the objects, the location and performance of the provisioning servers can be accounted for when assigning the workload of the provisioning servers.

FIG. 1 illustrates an overall provisioning environment 100, in systems and methods for the execution, management, and monitoring of software provisioning, according to exemplary aspects of the present disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in or supported by the exemplary environment illustrated in FIG. 1. The provisioning environment 100 provides a unified provisioning environment, which comprehensively manages the tasks related to software provisioning.

In particular, the provisioning environment 100 can manage software provisioning using a hierarchy of commands. In exemplary embodiments, the hierarchy can include at least four levels of commands. The lowest level in the hierarchy can comprise distribution commands, which primarily handle base operating system specific tasks of provisioning. The second level can comprise profile commands, which associate a configuration file, such as a kickstart file for Linux or other operating system, with a distribution and optionally allow for customization. The third level comprises system commands, which associate remote systems that are involved with the provisioning of the software. The fourth level comprises repository commands, which address configurations and tasks related to updating the software, remote installation procedures, and optionally customizing the software.

The provisioning environment 100 provides several capabilities and advantages over the known provisioning solutions. For example, the present invention is capable of handling a variety of forms of installations, such as preboot execution environment (“PXE”), virtualization, re-installations, and image installations.

In exemplary aspects, the provisioning environment 100 enables integrating virtualization into a PXE provisioning infrastructure and provides several options to reinstall running machines as well. The provisioning environment 100 can integrate mirroring of package repositories with the provisioning process, so that a provisioning server may serve as a central mirror point of contract for all of an organization's software needs. In aspects, a set of remote mirrored repositories can automatically be used by provisioned systems without additional setup.

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary aspects the provisioning environment 100. The provisioning environment 100 can be applied to provisioning any form of software, such as Windows systems, UNIX systems, and Linux systems. In the exemplary description that follows, FIG. 1 is presented to explain the provisioning environment 100 for provisioning software, such as Linux, and Linux based software, such as Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux by Red Hat, Inc.

In provisioning of software such as Linux, many system administrators use what is known as the “kickstart” installation method. Kickstart files are files that specify the intended configuration of the software being provisioned. Kickstart files can be kept on a server and can be read by individual computers during the installation. This installation method allows the use a single or relatively few standard kickstart files to install Linux on multiple machines, making it ideal for network and system administrators.

The kickstart file can be a simple text file, containing a list of items, each identified by a keyword. In general, a kickstart file can be edited with any text editor or word processor that can save files as ASCII text. One skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may be applied to non-kickstart files in software provisioning. For example, configuration files such as AutoYAST Answer files used in Novell SuSe Linux and Sun Solaris Jumpstart files may also be used by the provisioning environment 100.

Typically, a kickstart file can be copied to the boot disk, or made available on the network. The network-based approach is most commonly used, as most kickstart installations for software provisioning, such as Linux systems, tend to be performed via a network using NFS, FTP, or HTTP on networked computers. Administrators also find it desirable that kickstart installations can be performed using a local CD-ROM, or a local hard drive.

Using kickstart files, a system administrator can create a single file containing the parameters that are needed to complete a typical software installation. For example, kickstart files specify parameters related to: language selection; mouse configuration; keyboard selection; boot loader installation; disk partitioning; network configuration; NIS, LDAP, Kerberos, Hesiod, and Samba authentication; firewall configuration; and package selection.

According to exemplary aspects illustrated in FIG. 1, the provisioning environment 100 can include a provisioning server 102, a code repository 104 which provides access to distributions 106 and 108, a set of installation templates 110, a set of exception plugins 112, a helper client 114 running on target machines 116 in a network 115, a provisioning database 120 which comprises a distribution tree list 122 and template list 124. Each of these components will now be further described.

The provisioning server (from herein referred to as a “cobbler”) 102 is responsible for: serving as a extensible markup language remote procedure call (XMLRPC) handler; linking to or mirroring install distribution trees and a configuration database; hosting kickstart templates; hosting plugins, generating installation images, and the like. The cobbler server 102 can be implemented as software, such as Python code, installed on a boot server machine and provides a command line interface for configuration of the boot server. In addition, the cobbler server 102 can make itself available as a Python application programming interface (API) for use by higher level management software (not shown). The cobbler server 102 supports provisioning via PXE, image (ISO) installation, virtualization, re-provisioning. As will be described later, the last two modes are performed with the assistance of a helper client 114.

The code repository 104 is responsible for hosting distributions 106 and 108. The code repository 104 may be implemented using well known components of hardware and software. Additionally, the code repository 104 can be include one or more repositories hosting distributions. The distributions 106 and 108 can include bundles of software that is already compiled and configured. The distributions 106 and 108 may be in the form of either rpm, deb, tgz, msi, exe formats, and the like. For example, as Linux distributions, the distributions 106 and 108 are bundles of software that comprise the Linux kernel, the non-kernel parts of the operating system, and assorted other software. The distributions 106 and 108 can take a variety of forms, from fully-featured desktop and server operating systems to minimal environments.

In exemplary aspects, the installation templates 110 are any data structure or processing element that can be combined with a set of installation configurations and processed to produce a resulting configuration file, such as a kickstart file.

In exemplary aspects, exception plugins 112 is software that interacts with cobbler server 102 to customize the provisioning of software. In general, the exceptions plugins 112 are intended to address infrequent customization needs.

In exemplary aspects, the helper client (known as “koan”, which stands for “kickstart-over-a-network”) 114 can assist the cobbler server 102 during the provisioning processes. The koan 114 can allow for both network provisioning of new virtualized guests and destructive provisioning of any existing system. When invoked, the koan 114 can request profile information from a remote boot server that has been configured with the cobbler server 102. In some aspects, what the koan 114 does with the profile data depends on whether it was invoked with --virt or -replace-self.

In exemplary aspects, the koan 114 can enable replacing running systems as well as installing virtualized profiles. The koan 114 can also be pushed out to systems automatically from the boot server. In some aspects, the koan client 114 is also written in Python code to accommodate a variety of operating systems, machine architectures, etc.

In exemplary aspects, the network 115 can include a number of the target machines 116. The target machines 116 can represent the particular machines to which software provisioning is directed. The target machines 116 may represent a wide variety of computing devices, such as personal computers, servers, laptop computers, personal mobile devices, and the like. In some aspects, the target machines 116 can represent distributed computing environments such as cloud computing environments. Although FIG. 1 shows several of the target machines 116, the provisioning environment 100 can be capable of managing a wide range environments, such as datacenters with thousands of machines or server pools with just a few machines. Additionally, the cobbler server 102 can be connected to multiple networks 115.

In exemplary aspects, the provisioning database 120 can serve as a data storage location for holding data used by the cobbler server 102. For example, as shown, the provisioning database 120 can comprise the distribution tree list 122 and the template list 124. The distribution tree list 122 can provide an inventory of the distributions 106 and 108 that are hosted or mirrored by the cobbler server 102. The template list 124 can provide an inventory of the templates 110 that are hosted by the cobbler server 102.

As noted above, the cobbler server 102 can manage provisioning using a hierarchical concept of distribution commands, profile commands, system commands, and repository commands. This framework enables the cobbler server 102 to abstract the differences between multiple provisioning types (installation, reinstallation, and virtualization) and allows installation of all three from a common platform. This hierarchy of commands also permits the cobbler server 102 to integrate software repositories 126 with the provisioning process, thus allowing systems to be configured as a mirror for software updates and third party content as well as distribution content.

Distributions can contain information about base operating system tasks, such as what kernel and initial ramdisk (“initrd”) are used in the provisioning, along with other information, such as required kernel parameters. Profiles associate one of the distributions 106 and 108 with a kickstart file and optionally customize it Her, for example, using plugins 112. Systems commands associate a hostname, IP, or MAC with a distribution and optionally customize the profile further. Repositories contain update information, such as yum mirror information that the cobbler server 102 uses to mirror repository 104. The cobbler server 102 can also manage (generate) DHCP configuration files using the templates 110.

In exemplary aspects, the cobbler server 102 can use a provisioning environment that is fully templated, allowing for kickstarts and PXE files to be customized by the user. The cobbler server 102 uses the concept of “profiles” as an intermediate step between the operating system and the installed system. A profile is a description of what a system does rather than the software to be installed. For instance, a profile might describe a virtual web server with X amount of RAM, Y amounts of disk space, running a Linux distribution Z, and with an answer file W.

In exemplary aspects, the cobbler server 102 can provide a command line interface to configure a boot server in which it is installed. For example, the format of the cobbler server 102 commands can be generally in the format of cobbler command [subcommand] [--arg1=] [--arg2=]. Thus, a user can specify various aspects of software provisioning via a single interface, such as a command line interface or other known interface. Examples of exemplary cobbler commands can be found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/763,315, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. ______ and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/763,333, U.S. Patent Publication No. ______, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein, in their entirety, by reference.

According to exemplary aspects, a user can use various commands of the provisioning environment 100 to specify distributions and install trees hosted by the code repository 104, such as a distribution from the distributions 106 or 108. A user can add or import a distribution or import it from installation media or an external network location.

According to exemplary aspects, in order to import a distribution, the cobbler server 102 can auto-add distributions and profiles from remote sources, whether this is an installation media (such as a DVD), an NFS path, or an rsync mirror. When importing a rsync mirror, the cobbler server 102 can try to detect the distribution type and automatically assign kickstarts. By default in some embodiments, the cobbler server can provision by erasing the hard drive, setting up eth0 for DHCP, and using a default password. If this is undesirable, an administrator may edit the kickstart files in /etc/cobbler to do something else or change the kickstart setting after the cobbler server 102 creates the profile.

According to exemplary aspects,a user may map profiles to the distributions and map systems to the profiles using profile commands and systems commands of the provisioning environment 100. A profile associates a distribution to additional specialized options, such as a kickstart automation file. In the cobbler server 102, profiles are the unit of provisioning and at least one profile exists for every distribution to be provisioned. A profile might represent, for instance, a web server or desktop configuration.

According to exemplary aspects, a user can map systems to profiles using system commands. Systems commands can assign a piece of hardware with cobbler server 102 to a profile. Systems can be defined by hostname, Internet Protocol (IP) address, or MAC address. When available, use of the MAC address to assign systems can be preferred.

According to exemplary aspects, the user can map repositories and profiles using repository commands. Repository commands can address configurations and tasks related to updating the software, remote installation procedures, and optionally customizing the software. These repository commands can also specify mirroring of the provisioned software to remote servers. Repository mirroring can allow the cobbler server 102 to mirror not only install the trees 106 and 108, but also optional packages, third party content, and updates. Mirroring can be useful for faster, more up-to-date installations and faster updates, or providing software on restricted networks. The cobbler server 102 can also include other administrative features, such as allowing the user to view their provisioning configuration or information tracking the status of a requested software installation

According to exemplary aspects, a user can utilize commands to create a provisioning infrastructure from a distribution mirror. Then a default PXE configuration is created, so that by default systems will PXE boot into a fully automated install process for that distribution. The distribution mirror can be a network rsync mirror or a mounted DVD location.

According to exemplary aspects, the administrator uses a local kernel and initrd file (already downloaded), and shows how profiles would be created using two different kickstarts—one for a web server configuration and one for a database server. Then, a machine can be assigned to each profile.

According to exemplary aspects, a repo mirror can be set up for two repositories, and create a profile that will auto install those repository configurations on provisioned systems using that profile.

According to exemplary aspects, in addition to normal provisioning, the cobbler server 102 can support yet another option, called “enchant”. Enchant takes a configuration that has already been defined and applies it to a remote system that might not have the remote helper program installed. Users might want to use this command to replace a server that is being repurposed, or when no PXE environment can be created. Thus, the enchant option allows the remote the koan client 114 to be executed remotely from the cobbler server 102.

According to aspects, if the cobbler server 102 is configured to mirror certain repositories, the cobbler server 102 can then be used to associate profiles with those repositories. Systems installed under those profiles can be auto configured to use these repository mirrors in commands and, if supported, these repositories can be leveraged. This can be useful for a large install base, fast installation and upgrades for systems are desired, or software not in a standard repository exists and provisioned systems are desired to know about that repository.

According to exemplary aspects, the cobbler server 102 may also keep track of the status of kickstarting machines. For example, the “cobbler status” will show when the cobbler server 102 thinks a machine started kickstarting and when it last requested a file. This can be a desirable way to track machines that may have gone inactive during kickstarts. The cobbler server 102 can also make a special request in the post section of the kickstart to signal when a machine is finished kickstarting.

According to exemplary aspects, for certain commands, the cobbler server 102 will create new virtualized guests on a machine in accordance to the orders from the cobbler server 102. Once finished, an administrator may use additional commands on the guest or other operations. The cobbler server 102 can automatically name domains based on their MAC addresses. For re-kickstarting, the cobbler server 102 can reprovision the system, deleting any current data and replacing it with the results of a network install.

According to exemplary aspects, the cobbler server 102 can configure boot methods for the provisioning requested by the user. For example, the cobbler server 102 can configure a PXE environment, such as a network card BIOS. Alternatively, the cobbler server 102 can compile and configure information for koan client 104. The cobbler server 102 can also optionally configured DHCP and DNS configuration information.

According to exemplary aspects, the cobbler server 102 can serve the request of the koan client 114. The koan client 114 can acknowledge the service of information of the cobbler server 102 and then can initiate installation of the software being provisioned. Additionally, the koan client 114 can either install the requested software, e.g., replace the existing operating system, or install a virtual machine.

FIG. 2 illustrates aspects of the provisioning environment 100 that allows for assigning provisioning servers, according to various embodiments. In embodiments, as shown, the provisioning environment 100 can include cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 for providing software provisioning to target machines, such as target machines 210 and 212. While FIG. 2 illustrates several cobbler servers located in several networks, provisioning environment 100 can include any number of cobbler server located in any number of networks.

In embodiments, in order to provide software provisioning, the target machines must be assigned to one or more of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 in order to perform software provisioning. To assign the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 to the target machines, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to assign the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 and the target machines relationship utilizing provisioning objects.

In embodiments, the provisioning objects can include all the data required by a cobbler server to perform the software provisioning processes, such as the process described above, supported by the cobbler server. For example, the provisioning objects can include software distributions; configuration templates (templates for generating configuration files, such as kickstart files); distribution profile information (mapping a distribution to profile; a configuration template or a configuration file, and additional preferences, such as kernel options, template variables, or virtual machine settings); target machine information (information representing the mapping of a physical piece of hardware, plus hardware specific customizations, to a profile that it should run); repos information (information representing external or internal software repositories stored on the cobbler server); images (such as distributions representing an undefined executable image (like “memtest”); a virtual machine to be cloned, or an ISO file for use in installing a virtual machine); and the like.

In embodiments, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to associate selected provisioning objects with a respective one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208. By associating a provisioning objects with a respective one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208, the respective one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 will operate as the cobbler server for any provisioning processes performed on any target machines utilizing the associated provisioning object. The software provisioning processes can include software installation, software re-installation, virtualization, image installation, updating, and the like.

In embodiments, in order to associate the cobbler servers and provisioning objects, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to include, in the selected provisioning objects, a reference to the associated one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208. Once provisioning processes are performed on any target machine utilizing the selected provisioning object, the target machines can automatically identify, using the reference, the associated one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 with which to communicate.

In embodiments, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to associate the provisioning objects with the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 based on any number of factors, such as location, performance, workload, and specifications of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208. The factors can include location of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 relative to the target machines (network and/or geographic location), specifications of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 (provisioning objects supported, provisioning processes performed, etc.), load on the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 (server usage, availability, number of target machines supported, etc.), performance of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 (processing power, network bandwidth, etc.), and the like.

For example, the cobbler server 206 and the cobbler server 208 can be located in a network 214. In the example, the cobbler server 206 can be configured to associate a first profile, such as “web server”, to be associated with itself. Likewise, the cobbler server 206 can be configured to associate a second profile, such as “database server” to be associated with cobbler server 208. The cobbler server 206 can associate the profiles between the cobbler server 206 and the cobbler server 208 in order to reduce the workload of its workload. In the example, software provisioning may be performed on the target machine 210 using the first profile. As such, the target machine 210 or the associated koan client 114 knows to cooperate with cobbler server 206 for the software provisioning processes. Likewise, software provisioning may be performed on the target machine 212 using the second profile. As such, the target machine 212 or the associated koan client 114 knows to cooperate with cobbler server 208 for the software provisioning processes. The above example can be applicable to other types of provisioning objects such as a specific machine information of the target machines 210 and 212. As such, the cobbler servers 206 and 208 may be associated with a specific target machine 210 or 212.

In embodiments, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to associate the provisioning objects with the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 under the direction of an administrator of the cobbler servers. Likewise, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to include control logic to associate, independently, the provisioning objects with the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 based on any of the factors described above. For example, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to monitor and to record the workload, structure, and performance of the software provisioning environment in order to assign the cobbler servers.

In embodiments, one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to be a central provisioning server. For example, cobbler server 202 can be selected at the central provisioning server. The central cobbler server 202 can be configured to maintain a complete inventory of the provisioning objects for the software provisioning environment 100.

In embodiments, the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be located across one or more networks that can be geographically dispersed. For example, the cobbler server 202, the one or more of the cobbler servers 204 and the cobbler servers 206 and 208 can be located in separate local area networks which may be connected by a wide area network. Likewise, the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be all located in a local area network. While FIG. 2 illustrates the cobbler server 202 being configured as the central cobbler server 202, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured as the central cobbler server. For example, the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured as the central cobbler server based on its network location, geographic location, specifications of the systems supporting the cobbler server, and the like.

In embodiments, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to manage the software provisioning supported by the additional cobbler servers 204, 206, and 208 in the environment 100. In particular, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to select and provide the particular provisioning objects to be supported by each of the additional cobbler servers 204, 206, and 208. The central cobbler server 202 can be configured to perform the selection independently, under direction of an administrator of the central cobbler server 202, and/or in response to requests from the additional cobbler servers 204, 206, and 208.

In embodiments, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to select the provisioning objects to be supported by each of the additional cobbler servers 204, 206, and 208 based on the needs or requirements of that particular cobbler server. For each of the additional cobbler servers 204, 206, and 208, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to, select all the provisioning objects or only a portion of the provisioning objects that meets the needs or requirements of a particular cobbler server. As such, the additional cobbler servers 204, 206, and 208 can include different portions of the provisioning objects depending on the needs or requirements of a particular cobbler server. For example, a particular cobbler server may only provide software provisioning processes for network servers. As such, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to select only those provisioning objects, such as software distributions, configuration templates, and/or profiles, necessary for network servers.

In embodiments, once selected, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to provide the selected provisioning objects 206 to each of the additional cobbler servers 204, 206, and 208. The central cobbler server 202 can provide the selected provisioning objects 206 via a network connection. Likewise, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to provide the selected provisioning objects 206 by physical media such as digital versatile disk, compact disk, portable storage drive, or other media.

In embodiments, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to provide all of the selected provisioning objects 206 to a particular additional cobbler server. Likewise, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to provide only a portion of the selected provisioning objects 206 needed by a particular additional cobbler server. For example, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to provide only the configuration templates and profiles. As such, the additional cobbler server can retrieve the software distributions associated with the profiles and configuration templates, when necessary, from the central cobbler server 202 or other cobbler servers.

In embodiments, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to perform the cobbler server assignment as described above. In particular, the central cobbler server 202 can be configured to associate selected provisioning objects with a respective one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208. As such, the cobbler servers 204, 206, and 208 with be provided with the assignments when the provisioning objects are provided.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary diagram of hardware and other resources that can be incorporated in the cobbler server 102 configured to communicate with the network 115 and the target machines 116 in network 115, according to embodiments. In embodiments as shown, the cobbler server 102 can comprise a processor 300 communicating with memory 302, such as electronic random access memory, operating under control of or in conjunction with operating system 306. Operating system 306 can be, for example, a distribution of the Linux™ operating system, the Unix™ operating system, or other open-source or proprietary operating system or platform. Processor 300 also communicates with the provisioning database 120, such as a database stored on a local hard drive. While illustrated as a local database in the cobbler server 102, the provisioning database 120 can be separate from the cobbler server 102 and the cobbler server 102 can be configured to communicate with the remote provisioning database 120.

Processor 300 further communicates with network interface 304, such as an Ethernet or wireless data connection, which in turn communicates with one or more networks 115, such as the Internet or other public or private networks. Processor 300 also communicates with the memory 302, the network interface 304, and the provisioning database 120 to execute control logic and perform the assignments processes described above. Other configurations of the cobbler server 102, associated network connections, and other hardware and software resources are possible.

While FIG. 3 illustrates the cobbler server 102 as a standalone system comprising a combination of hardware and software, the cobbler server 102 can also be implemented as a software application or program capable of being executed by a convention computer platform. Likewise, the cobbler server 102 can also be implemented as a software module or program module capable of being incorporated in other software applications and programs. In either case, the cobbler server 102 can be implemented in any type of conventional proprietary or open-source computer language.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of overall assigning of provisioning servers in the provisioning environment 100, according to embodiments of the present teachings. In 402, the process can begin.

In 404, any one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can select provisioning objects to be associated with respective cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208. Any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to select the provisioning objects to associate with the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 based on any number of factors, such as location, performance, workload, and specifications of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208. The factors can include location of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 relative to the target machines (network and/or geographic location), specifications of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 (provisioning objects supported, provisioning processes performed, etc.), load on the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 (server usage, availability, number of target machines supported, etc.), performance of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 (processing power, network bandwidth, etc.), and the like.

For example, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to select the provisioning objects to associate with the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 under the direction of an administrator of the cobbler servers. Likewise, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to include control logic to select, independently, the provisioning objects to associate with the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 based on any of the factors described above.

In 406, any one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can associate the selected provisioning objects with the respective cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208. For example, in order to associate the cobbler servers and provisioning objects, any of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can be configured to include, in the selected provisioning objects, a reference to the associated one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208. Once provisioning processes are performed on any target machine utilizing the selected provisioning object, the target machines can automatically identify, using the reference, the associated one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 with which to communicate.

In 408, any one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 can provide the provisioning processes with the associated provisioning objects. By associating a provisioning objects with a respective one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208, the respective one of the cobbler servers 202, 204, 206, and 208 will operate as the cobbler server for any provisioning processes performed on any target machines utilizing the associated provisioning object.

In 410, the process can end, but the process can return to any point and repeat.

While the invention has been described with reference to the exemplary embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will be able to make various modifications to the described embodiments without departing from the true spirit and scope. The terms and descriptions used herein are set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant as limitations. In particular, although the method has been described by examples, the steps of the method may be performed in a different order than illustrated or simultaneously. Those skilled in the art will recognize that these and other variations are possible within the spirit and scope as defined in the following claims and their equivalents. 

1. A method of managing a software provisioning environment, comprising: selecting at least one provisioning object to be associated with at least one provisioning server, wherein the provisioning object comprises data to perform provisioning process on target systems; and associating the at least one provisioning server with the at least one provisioning object, wherein the associating will cause the target systems utilizing the at least one provisioning object to perform the provisioning processes in cooperation with the at least one provisioning server.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing, by the at least one provisioning server, the provisioning processes for at least one of the target systems.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the at least one provisioning server with the at least one provisioning object, comprises: inserting a reference to the at least provisioning server in the at least one provisioning object.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the reference comprises at least one of an identity of the at least one provisioning server or a location of the at least one provisioning server.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one provisioning object comprises a distribution profile.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one provisioning object comprises identity information of the target machines.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection is based on at least one of a performance of the at least one provisioning server, specifications of the at least one provisioning server, workload of the at least one provisioning server, or location of the at least one provisioning server.
 8. A system for managing a software provisioning environment, comprising: a network interface to a network comprises at least one target machine; and a provisioning server, communicating with the network interface, the provisioning server being configured to select at least one provisioning object to be associated with the provisioning server or at least one other provisioning server, wherein the provisioning object comprises data to perform provisioning process on target systems; and associate the provisioning server or the at least one other provisioning server with the at least one provisioning object, wherein the associating will cause the target systems utilizing the provisioning server or the at least one other provisioning server to perform the provisioning processes in cooperation with the at least one provisioning server.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the provisioning server is further configured to perform the provisioning processes for the at least one of the target systems.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein associating the provisioning server or the at least one other provisioning server with the at least one provisioning object, comprises: inserting a reference to the provisioning server or the at least one other provisioning server in the at least one provisioning object.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the reference comprises at least one of an identity of the provisioning server or the at least one other provisioning server, or a location of the provisioning server or the at least one other provisioning server.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one provisioning object comprises a distribution profile.
 13. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one provisioning object comprises identity information of the target machines.
 14. The system of claim 8, wherein the selection is based on at least one of a performance of the provisioning server or the at least one other provisioning server, specifications of the provisioning server or the at least one other provisioning server, workload of the at least one provisioning server, or location of the provisioning server or the at least one other provisioning server.
 15. A provisioning application, the provisioning application being embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising instructions for causing a computer to perform a method comprising: selecting at least one provisioning object to be associated with at least one provisioning server, wherein the provisioning object comprises data to perform provisioning process on target systems; and associating the at least one provisioning server with the at least one provisioning object, wherein the associating will cause the target systems utilizing the at least one provisioning object to perform the provisioning processes in cooperation with the at least one provisioning server.
 16. The provisioning application of claim 15, the method further comprising: performing, by the at least one provisioning server, the provisioning processes for at least one of the target systems.
 17. The provisioning application of claim 15, wherein associating the at least one provisioning server with the at least one provisioning object, comprises: inserting a reference to the at least provisioning server in the at least one provisioning object.
 18. The provisioning application of claim 17, wherein the reference comprises at least one of an identity of the at least one provisioning server or a location of the at least one provisioning server.
 19. The provisioning application of claim 15, wherein the at least one provisioning object comprises a distribution profile.
 20. The provisioning application of claim 15, wherein the at least one provisioning object comprises identity information of the target machines.
 21. The provisioning application of claim 15, wherein the selection is based on at least one of a performance of the at least one provisioning server, specifications of the at least one provisioning server, workload of the at least one provisioning server, or location of the at least one provisioning server. 